Happy Halloweenie!

Green is my New Favorite Colour

Well, not really. Finally, after 2 weeks of main colour (4 coats), accent colour (3 coats) and 2 hours of hand painting (x3) the baby's room is finished. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to bother to paint the baby's room, but after some deliberation, I thought that it would be nice. I browsed through the internets and found exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to design dad to pointing me in the right direction.

Before:

Nothing special about the room before. The colors in our house are pretty dark, so it wasn't really 'baby ready' or anything like that.

After (but before the furniture came in):

After again (with furniture this time):

The other wall:

The room is pretty small, so that's pretty much the whole room. I was going to give the baby the bigger room, but I have so much craft stuff, the baby will just have to live in the smaller room until he/she needs the big room. We came to the conclusion that the baby will either grow up loving giraffes or hating them.

On the other side of things, I've completed a pair of baby socks and have started another pair. I'm not sure how many pairs I'm going to end up with, but socks seem to be my project of choice for some reason.

Satisfying the Cravings

I purchase these puff wheat squares on a regular basis from the coffee shop when I'm at work. They are kinda like rice krispie squares, but...different. They are chocolately and gooey. So delicious. I figured it'd be a good idea to make a batch and satisfy the craving instead of paying $2 per square. It probably costs me less than a dollar to make the whole batch. Adapted from The Casual Baker's recipe.

Puffed Wheat Squares

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups puffed wheat

Measure out puffed wheat in a bowl. Lightly grease a 9"x13" baking pan. Set both aside. Combine butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, cocoa and salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon (I used a silicone spatula) for 2 minutes before removing from heat. Add vanilla and stir briefly to combine. Pour measured out puffed wheat into the pot and quickly stir to coat evenly. Pour the coated cereal into the greased baking pan and use a damp spoon or hands to press the mixture evenly into the pan. Cool and slice.